Column: A Olympic hockey game for the ages, not chokers

Sunday

Mar 2, 2014 at 1:14 AMMar 2, 2014 at 1:15 AM

By Joe McConnell

One person’s choke is another person’s comeback.Sports fans are fond of trying to explain the inexplicable, with the latest example coming in the wake of last Thursday’s gold medal game between the United States Women’s Olympic ice hockey team and their northern neighbors from Canada.The Americans were winning, 2-0, for 56 minutes and 34 seconds, and seemingly had the gold in hand until the puck started taking funny bounces — off a defender’s knee that resulted in the first Canadian goal, or off the post to deny the American women an empty-net goal that would have surely dashed the dreams of their Canadian counterparts.The Canadians eventually tied it up to send it into overtime, and after a flurry of activity by the American forwards who did everything but light the lamp, they completed the comeback.Almost immediately, Twitter and Facebook went into overdrive with plenty of opinions on the improbable loss by the Americans.One thought was that "they" — the Americans — "choked big time."Then, there was talk radio — that great bastion of negativity and cynicism. Its rhetoric on the subject brought to mind how a former colleague once labeled the medium: "Hate Radio."Hosts ranted at length about how the women’s game basically was not on the same level as a Division 3 men’s league; it was the worst silver medal in American Olympic history; and this is all they as women hockey players have until the next Olympics in 2018.Of course, the obligatory Title IX reference came up, pointing to the government’s attempt — over the last four decades — to give the female athlete more access as participants in sports.While professional women’s hockey leagues are scarce, there is the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, and the Boston Blades are one of its member teams. This year’s Olympic team captain, Meghan Duggan of Danvers, is on their roster.Instead of discussions focusing on the memorable Canadian comeback, fans and those who should know better — the media — talked almost exclusively of a sudden collapse, without any mention of the opponent.A similar scenario took place last May at the TD Garden. The Boston Bruins were trailing the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 with just over nine minutes left in Game 7, before they roared back with three goals to send it into overtime. And just like the Canadian women, the Bruins won the game, eliminating Toronto from the Stanley Cup playoffs.But most of the talk in the post-game chatter centered on Patrice Bergeron’s game-tying and game-winning clutch goals. There was little talk of a Toronto choke, because that would have diminished what the Bruins had accomplished.It’s all a matter of perspective. Games by nature have natural ebbs and flows, and when the two favorites are pitted against each other in the women’s gold medal game, what do you expect? It only proves both sides did not quit — not to mention choke.Joe McConnell is a sports editor for GateHouse Media New England's North Unit.